Containers are used to transport a vast range of materials and goods all around the world. Quick and efficient loading and unloading of containers is desirable as this translates into cost savings and increased profits for companies in the transportation and freighting business. One way efficiencies have been improved is through the standardisation of container sizes, which has reduced the costs associated with transporters and freight equipment since there are fewer different container sizes. Despite these improvements, there are still a number of different standards which must be catered for when providing container loading equipment, which increases costs.
A number of ways of speeding up the loading of a container have been used. Pallets are convenient for materials of certain sizes and dimensions, but typically they are not suitable for bulk material, such as scrap metal, because the pieces of bulk material may be too large for a pallet or the use of pallets may lead to the underutilisation of space within the container. As a result, bulk material is usually loaded loosely into a container. Recent developments in bulk material loading devices include the Acculoader by Body Equipment, Inc and the Scrapper™ produced by Steco. These devices comprise bins that can fit inside a container and are mounted on a sliding mechanism for sliding forwards and backwards in and out of the container. The bins are top-loaded with bulk material and a hydraulic ram is used to push the material from the bin into the container.
An example of a similar such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,837,428 in the name of SA Recycling LLC. In this invention, a bin is top-loaded with material to be loaded into a container. The container is backed up to the bin so the bin fits within the container. A ram is then used to push the material from the bin into the container. The truck carrying the container needs to edge forwards at a similar speed as the speed of the hydraulic ram so that the bulk material load is distributed through the container.
Container loaders such as have been described are typically very large pieces of equipment that have a large footprint and are not very mobile. For example, the loader disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,837,428 has a footprint of approximately twice the length of a container because of the need to cantilever the loaded bin to prevent tipping. It would be advantageous to provide a loader with as small a footprint as possible to save space in loading yards.
The type of loader discussed above also requires a hydraulic ram sufficiently powerful to drive a large quantity of material forwards from the bin into the container, overcoming the friction of the material with the bottom of the bin. A ram that can provide this significant amount of force is costly, expensive to run and maintain, and occupies valuable space.
The loader in U.S. Pat. No. 7,837,428 also requires the truck carrying the container to move forwards at a speed similar to that at which the hydraulic ram moves forward. This may be difficult to achieve in practice.